For The Lowry, in Salford, I created the piece, entitled 'Flood', drawing its inspiration from the region’s papermaking past and the river Irewll.

Rivers, like the Irwell, are important to the birth and development of any civilisation. They provided water for drinking, agriculture and manufacturing. For centuries, rivers were the quickest and easiest way to transport people and goods over a long distance, helping the growth of trade. They also brought back to the community news and new ideas. Their powerful currents drove the machinery of mills and factories. They have been a defence against invaders and at other times a highway by which both people and nature have brought danger to the community.

Along the banks of the Irwell the manufacture of cloth and paper took hold. In my installation ‘Flood’, in The Lowry’s Deck Gallery, I have used an ‘end-product’ of this force of nature, paper, corrugated paper, to interpret and respond to both the physical and spiritual presence of the river - its magical character. By combining the natural structure of the corrugated paper with the rhythms, currents and patterns of the water, I transformed both the material and the idea of a river into a new and independent thing - a sculpture, an installation and a three dimensional drawing.